Chivas USA aim to name manager by year's end

NEW YORK – Chivas USA are looking to hire their new head
coach before the holiday season, according to the club’s vice president of soccer operations, Stephen Hamilton.

“We’ve had a number of interviews and we have a few more candidates
to meet with and speak with,” Hamilton told MLSsoccer.com on Thursday. “We’d
like to get this done in the next couple of weeks. “Coming up next are the MLS Combine and SuperDraft in January.
We’d like to have someone in place prior to those events to
finalize preseason plans and finalize the international players to
bring in to strengthen the squad.”

Hamilton confirms the club has spoken to more than the five
candidates that have been named in reports. Earlier this week, Soccer America listed five names involved in the process: Eric Wynalda, Steve Sampson, Denis
Hamlett, Jesse Marsch and Robin Fraser.

In addition to the names with whom MLS fans are already familiar, Hamilton indicated he was surprised by the degree of
international interest the club has received in the vacant post.

“We’re looking at coaches intimately familiar with MLS and a
lot of candidates that are very good coaches and have great experience in building
successful teams in other leagues,” Hamilton said. “We want someone capable of
coming in and doing the job but also stabilizing the position. Fortunately there
are a lot of strong candidates.”

Chivas USA say they have gotten a head start on scouting
ahead of naming a manager with assistant coach Carlos Llamosa assuming most of
the scouting duties. The 2002 World Cup veteran has already made a few trips to South America since the end of the
regular season campaign.

“We’ve scouted a number of players that we’ve identified,”
Hamilton said. “We’ve submitted, like every MLS team, our Discovery list on
Monday. We’ll see which of those players become available and what prices to
get deals done. But we feel good about players we’ve identified.”

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